Join director Jay Craven for screening of "Peter and John" at Bennington Museum

Posted
Wednesday, August 17, 2016 3:52 pm

The Manchester Journal

BENNINGTON &GT;&GT; Jay Craven's new seaside film drama, "Peter and John," screens at the Bennington Museum in the Ada Paresky Education Center at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 23. Director Jay Craven will introduce the film and lead a post-screening Q & A. Tickets are $12, $10 for 62+, and $7 for students with current college or high school ID. Advance purchase recommended by calling 802-447-1571 ext. 203. Information is available at KingdomCounty.org or by contacting Jay Craven (jcraven@marlboro.edu).

"Peter and John" marks Craven's eighth narrative film based in New England – and it was recently nominated for a 2016 New England Emmy. The movie is based on the 19th century novel "Pierre et Jean" by Guy de Maupassant which was widely credited for helping to change the course of narrative fiction through its detailed psychological characterizations. Set in 1872 Nantucket, during the island's "ghost period"— after the decline of whaling, before the rise of tourism, and in the New England shadow of the Civil War, the film tells the story of two brothers whose relationship strains when the younger one receives news of an unexpected inheritance—and both brothers become attracted to the same young woman who arrives on their island.

Shot on Nantucket, it was produced through the Movies from Marlboro (MfM) program, a biennial film intensive semester jointly produced by Marlboro College and Kingdom County Productions. For this ambitious production, 22 filmmaking professionals mentored and collaborated with 32 students from 12 colleges (Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Boston College, University of Vermont, Lyndon State College, Dartmouth, Smith, Sarah Lawrence, Emerson, Antioch, London School of the Arts, and Marlboro).

The director's previous pictures include five collaborations with Vermont writer Howard Frank Mosher, among them "Northern Borders," with Bruce Dern and Genevieve Bujold, "Disappearances," with Kris Kristofferson, and "Where the Rivers Flow North" with Rip Torn, Tantoo Cardinal, and Michael J. Fox.

Jay Craven's seven feature films have played 58 countries and 73 festivals, including Sundance—with special screenings at The Smithsonian, Lincoln Center, Le Cinémathèque Française, the Constitutional Court of Johannesburg, and others. Craven's commitment to New England place-based filmmaking was recently profiled by Orion Magazine that wrote: "Jay Craven has come closer than any other filmmaker to realizing (American poet, essayist, and film theorist) Vachel Lindsay's dream of a vital regional cinema that embodies the character and genius of a place in all its mystery, magnificence, and pain."

About the Museum

Bennington Museum is located at 75 Main Street (Route 9), Bennington, in The Shires of Vermont. The museum is open daily June through October, 10 am to 5 pm. and is wheelchair accessible. Regular admission is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors (62+) and students over 18. Admission is never charged for younger students, museum members, or to visit the museum shop. Visit the museum's website www.benningtonmuseum.org or call 802-447-1571 for more information.

TALK TO US

If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please
email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by
filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.